GameAbove is a group of EMU alumni who have made several donations for specifically outlined initiatives throughout last semester, Fall 2019, and the current semester.
The initiatives include Faculty First, Students Matter Most, Ozone House, a Golf Facility, a Student-Athlete Performance Center, and STEM for the Future. They have donated a total of 13.5 million dollars to EMU.
While there has been coverage of many of GameAbove’s initiatives, the focus has not been placed on who they are as a group.
“GameAbove kind of came together [in 2019], as an organization. Basically, the advisory board is made up of members who are all Eastern Alumni who have been engaged with the university in some form or another,” explained GameAbove’s spokesperson, Denis Wolcott.
According to Wolcott, the money is entirely provided by members of the advisory board meaning there are no donors outside of the board.
GameAbove’s advisory board consists of 21 EMU alumni. The money donated to EMU is entirely from those on the advisory board. Multiple of these members are former EMU football and basketball players, some who even went on to the NFL and NBA. Some members are also entrepreneurs, investors and have also been successful in their careers.
A few of the advisory board members were involved in football. This includes Brett Petersmark, Charlie Batch, TJ Lang, and Khalid Walton, who all played Eastern college football. Petersmark was drafted to the NFL for the Houston Oilers, Batch for the Detroit Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Lang for the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. This could be likely for the Student-Athlete Performance Center initiative. Additionally, besides being former football players, a few of the members also are former basketball players including George Gervin, Earle Higgins, Dr. Robert Sims.
Several of the advisory board members are also involved in golf. They include Stephanie Jennings, Head Women's Golf Coach at EMU and Jordan Young, assistant coach of EMU men’s golf and former EMU golfer. Other former EMU golfers include Korey Mahoney and Nick Carbary. Kelly Plasier and Stephany Palowski have been involved with golf outside of EMU. These members are likely behind the new golf training facility initiative.
Other advisory board members include Craig Petersmark, Jack Brusewitz, Jillian (Wolosiansky) Boone, Michael Bailey Smith, Kristin Young and Keith Stone.
The names of those on the advisory board are provided on their website; however, contact information for members on the advisory board is not provided. However, Spokesperson Wolcott answers emails at info@gameabove.com.
